Honkytonk band to be opening act
Staff writer
A band that performs classic country music with a splash of rock ’n’ roll will be the warmup show on Chingawassa’s main stage Saturday.
The PettyCash band will take to the stage at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.
PettyCash lead singer Sam Shilts lives in Moundridge, but with two band members living in McPherson, that’s where Shilts sayd the band is from.
Other band members are Doug Fallis on lead guitar, Mark Wash on drums, and Dave Thiessen, bass.
Thiessen is from Elyria. Fallis and Wash are from McPherson.
“We play country roots and rock and roll,” Shilts said. “We play Johnny Cash, Tom Petty, Dwight Yoakam, Sawyer Brown, Garth Brooks, Waylon Jennings Merle Haggard Steve Earles, Dan Seals, Travis Tritt, Jerry Reed, Jim Croce, David Lee Murphy, ZZ Top, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Elvis Presley, Brooks and Dunn, and Rhett Akins.
“We’re a honky-tonking band.”
He said their performances were 90% 1990s-and-earlier country.
PettyCash formed in the 1990s. He joined the band in 2020. The band has played in Oklahoma, Nebraska, Minnesota, Colorado, New York State, and Arkansas.
Shilts, who also is a songwriter, and others also will perform at this year’s Bluegrass at the Lake under the name “Unfortunate Sons.”
“I moved to Moundridge after my dad died because someone needed to take over the farm,” Shilts said.
He also runs a trucking company called “Son of a Buck Trucking,” a name he chose because people called his father “Buck.”
Fallis, Shilts said, is the best guitar player he’s ever worked with, Wash is “incredibly solid on the beat,” and Thiessen can play any instrument.
This story replaces a previous version that profiled an incorrect band.